Blossoming dental business succeeds by treating employees like family

Jan. 25, 2012

Wayne Mortenson is the founder and CEO of Mortenson Family Dental, winner in the large-sized company category. He rewards
employees with benefits including stock in the company, a quarterly bonus, and an annual worker “summit” at a downtown
Louisville hotel. / ALEX DAVIS/SPECIAL TO THE COURIER-JOURNAL

Written by

Alex Davis

Special to The Courier-Journal

For most of the last three decades, Wayne Mortenson ran a small but prosperous dental practice built on a philosophy of taking care of employees as well as patients.

Mortenson is using the same approach today, even as his family business is blossoming into a dental empire that is the largest of its kind in Kentucky and one of the largest in the nation.

More than 600 people now work for Louisville-based Mortenson Family Dental, which boasts more than 50 offices in five states. Most of the growth has come in the last decade or so - there were still only two offices through the mid-1990s, and 15 as of 2007. Annual revenue is expected to grow to $87 million in 2012, up from $64 million in 2011, as Mortenson and his leadership team seek to expand into new regional markets in places such as Texas, Pennsylvania, northern Indiana and Idaho.

But to hear Mortenson tell it, the story is less about skyrocketing revenue and more about treating people right.

"It's really like a second family," he said in an interview at the company's headquarters off Shelbyville Road. "It's a culture of everybody."

Of course, it's easy to talk in generalities about being inclusive and family oriented. The proof is in the details, and at Mortenson Family Dental the details aren't hard to find. For starters, there's the annual employee "summit," where workers at all levels of the organization stay overnight at an upscale hotel and focus on the company's direction in the coming year.

Then there are the quarterly bonuses for employees at each office, based on factors such as efficiency and use of supplies and laboratory materials. For a team that does well, the bonus can mean up to $4 an hour in extra pay for each worker, which is part of the reason that Mortenson officials say their company's dental hygienists bring home more money and stay in their positions longer than the industry average.

Jane Logsdon, the company's chief operating officer, said the bonus program also teaches life skills and an appreciation for how each worker's job fits into the company's larger system. Logsdon also said the company has been able to retain a small-business atmosphere partly because Wayne Mortenson and his wife continue to be heavily involved in day-to-day operations.

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Andrea Edelen, a dental hygienist at a Mortenson office on Dixie Highway, said she and other employees are able to provide top-notch patient care because the company treats its employees the same way it wants the employees to treat the patients.

"It's a great employee experience," said Edelen, who joined Mortenson four years ago. "We're treated like several little families inside a big family. We've grown so much, but it doesn't feel like that. You're not a number, and we really know each other."

About 85 percent of Mortenson's non-dentist employees are female, and the percentage of hygienists who are female is even higher. The gender dynamic is a good fit for patients because it tends to promote a nurturing environment, said Stephen James, the company's chief financial officer.

James said the company's overall management style is less about command and control and more about inspiring and empowering. Its biggest challenge, he said, is to keep that atmosphere as the business continues to grow.

So far, it seems to be working out fine. Mortenson's new dentists - about half of whom are women - are attracted to the company because they get to practice dentistry and not worry about all of the insurance, finance and business issues that a sole practitioner must face. Last year there were 26 applications for five job openings.

The company's 65 dentists also receive stock in the company, but they're not the only ones who share in the financial rewards. About 26 percent of the company's shares are owned by other employees - including secretaries and hygienists - under a profit-sharing plan that is based on pay and experience.

Wayne Mortenson said the profit-sharing program is just one of the features that set his company apart from other large dental practices, many of which are owned by private equity firms with a strong focus on the bottom line.

What might be even more remarkable is Mortenson's own background. Born and raised in Arizona, he spent years as a farmer and a teacher before deciding to move the family to Louisville so he could attend dental school. He graduated in 1979, and all four of his children have since entered the profession.

In the coming years, Mortenson and his leadership team aim to continue the rapid growth they've achieved over the last decade by rolling out similar clusters of dental practices in new markets across the country. John Meis, a fourth-generation dentist from Iowa, will help to oversee that growth as the company's new Chief Development Officer. No matter how big the company gets in the coming years, Meis said its core values will not change.

"Everybody has a bigger purpose," he said of the company's employees. "It's about caring for patients and each other."